Six Iraqi civilians died and 15 were wounded last night in an allied bombing raid on the country's southern no-fly zone, the Iraqi military said today.

British and US planes flew into Iraqi airspace from their base in Kuwait at 9.45pm (18.45 GMT) last night and targeted civilian sites in the southern port city of Basra, an Iraqi military spokesman said. He said Iraqi anti-aircraft units fired at the planes.

Officials in Washington confirmed that US warplanes patrolling the no-fly zone attacked four military communications facilities and one air defence facility yesterday. US central command in Florida said the attacks came after Iraqi forces fired at US and British planes.

The allied aircraft used precision-guided weapons to strike four fibre optic communications centres near Al Kut, about 95 miles southeast of Baghdad, and a military command and control centre near Basra.

"The specific targets were struck because they enhanced Iraq's integrated air defence network. Target damage assessment is ongoing," a US military spokesman told the Reuters news agency.

The news came as Britain denied Pentagon reports that allied planes were increasing their strikes on Iraqi targets in a bid to soften up the country for war. Both Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence denied reports that allied aircraft patrolling the "no-fly zones" above northern and southern Iraq have switched to a more aggressive strategy.

Pentagon sources were reported to have disclosed that British and US aircraft were now targeting surface-to-surface missiles, which could threaten allied forces during a ground war.

But Mr Blair's spokesman insisted: "The policy in the no-fly zone continues as it was. They patrol the no-fly zones as they did before. They respond to the threats they encounter."

As the allies prepared for a possible attack on Iraq, the first of a number of expected US B52 bombers landed today at RAF Fairford, in Gloucestershire.

The long-range bomber, expected to be involved in any conflict with Iraq, is the first of around nine believed to be arriving at the base. The MoD has not confirmed that the aircraft will be stationed there.

RAF Fairford is a Nato-designated standby base and is shared with the United States air force (USAF). It is one of only three forward USAF bases outside the US.

B52s: Major role in bombing campaigns

The departure of a wave of B52 bombers from the base four years ago heralded the start of the Nato assault on Yugoslavia which ultimately led to Serbian forces being ejected from Kosovo. B52 bombers flying from Fairford dropped nearly half of all the bombs that fell on the country during the war.

American B52 bombers based there during the Gulf war in 1991 flew 60 missions, dropping more than 1,158 tonnes of high explosive in sorties against Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard and other key targets in Iraq and Kuwait.

Samoud missiles

Britain today responded with scepticism to Iraq's latest disarmament measures. According to the UN weapons inspectors, Iraq was today destroying at least seven more illegal al Samoud 2 missiles, and has declared it will submit a report about its unilateral destruction of anthrax and VX nerve agent.

Hiro Ueki, a spokesman for the UN inspectors in Baghdad, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that there had been "some progress in some areas".

But the prime minister's official spokesman said: "Given the history of Iraq, given the history of deception, the history of cheating, the history of lies, it is understandable that we should be approaching what we are seeing at the moment with a degree of scepticism."

Odai al-Taie, an official at the Iraqi information ministry, said Iraq had begun destroying more Samoud 2 missiles at 9am this morning, and expected to destroy between seven and nine today.

With weapons inspectors supervising the work, Iraq crushed four missiles on Saturday and another six on Sunday. It also destroyed two casting chambers used to make engines for another kind of missile, the Al Fatah.

The destruction of the missiles complies with an order from chief weapons inspector Hans Blix, who said they exceeded the range limit set by the UN after the 1991 Gulf war.

Iraq said it would submit a detailed written report to the weapons inspectors in about a week, with a proposal for verifying its claims that it unilaterally anthrax stores and about 1.5 tonnes of VX, a deadly nerve agent, Mr Ueki said.

Iraq also said inspectors returned to al-Aziziya, an abandoned helicopter airfield 60 miles south-east of Baghdad, where Iraq says it destroyed R-400 bombs filled with biological weapons in 1991.

An Iraqi government official said 157 of the R-400 bombs contained anthrax, aflotoxin and botulin toxin. He said Iraq has been excavating them and so far has uncovered eight intact bombs, as well as many fragments of destroyed bombs. On Sunday, UN weapons inspectors took samples of the material in the bombs to confirm their composition.

Turkey vote shock

US war plans were in disarray following Saturday's shock refusal by the Turkish parliament to allow 62,000 US troops to operate out of the country.

Turkey's stock market plunged by more than 10% in early trading today, amid fears that the country could now lose out on a $15bn financial package, promised by Washington to compensate Turkey for any losses incurred during a war.

The parliament's decision not to authorise the US troop deployment ahead of a possible Iraqi war stunned Washington, and seriously jeopardises US plans for a northern front against Iraq, a crucial part of its war strategy.

The Sabah newspaper today reported that the motion could be delayed until March 17, which would allow Turkey to wait and see if the UN security council approves a second resolution.

Turkey's Islamic-leaning ruling party is torn between popular opposition to war and fears of possible lasting damage to close ties with Washington. Many Turks fear that a war could lead Kurds in northern Iraq to declare an independent state, triggering similar demands from Turkey's own Kurdish minority.

Turkish and US officials negotiated for weeks on the military, economic and political conditions of the military deployment. Ships carrying equipment and some of the 62,000 US troops who would be based in Turkey are already off the Turkish coast, a sign of how sure Washington was of Turkish support.

Washington may now have to drastically redraw its deployment plans and station the troops under the no-fly zone in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq.

'Iraq should do more'

The French president, Jacques Chirac, today urged Iraq to step up its cooperation with UN weapons inspectors, following a threat by Iraq that it may cease disarmament if the US did not rein in its escalating war preparations.

"Iraq should do more, offer increased and more active cooperation," Mr Chirac told the Algerian parliament during a visit to the former French colony.

"We should maintain strong pressure on it so that we reach, together and in peace, the objective we have set: the elimination of weapons of mass destruction. That is our responsibility in the eyes of history."